It got down to about 18 or 19 degrees last night. We decided to give the chickens the Vaseline treatment on their combs/wattles this morning. When I picked up our cockerel, I noticed he had 3 tips on his comb that were black. It is a very mild case of frostbite, if that is what it is. The black spots are probably less than 1/8" long. The hens did not have anything like that. Maybe his comb has always been like that, and I just didn't notice???

We do not appear to have a ventilation problem because there have been no signs of it. There is absolutely no bad odor in the coop, and there is no condensation present. I'm keeping the larger size poops cleaned up daily, so that is not a problem either.

Do you think he has a mild case of frostbite? If so, should he be treated with neosporin or something? If so, should the Vaseline be removed before putting it on?

sounds like a mild case.last year we had a BO that had that happen.remove the vaseline,put neosporin on.the black will eventually fall off where it meets the healthy tissue with no worries.there was talk about possibly cutting it off but fortunately that did not have to happen

Correct me if I'm wrong...but I thought that you're supposed to put the Vaseline on before the cold snap (at night) to keep frost from sitting on the bird. I think it's a preventive measure, not a cure.

All three roosters of our have frostbite on their combs and wattles, really bad. All swollen wattles. Two of my roosters decided to pick-on the other one so bad that he has a tri-angle cut on one wattle and it is leeking yellowish stuff from it. What do you think? I am new to raising chickens as well. I hope you rooster is doing better than mine.

I had a rooster that had the EXACT smae thing happen. I DO belive it was frostbite. After a little while of being black, all the tips of his comb fell off and now his comb has no tips, it's completely smooth over the top. We didn't treat our roo, and he was completely fine.